RIYADH — Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman inaugurated the National Defense University and graced the graduation ceremony of students at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Riyadh on Monday. Upon arrival at the venue, Prince Khalid was received by Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Abdulrahman bin Muhammad bin Ayyaf and several other officials. Prince Khalid signed the inauguration plaque of the National Defense University. Speaking on the occasion, Saudi Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fayyadh Al-Ruwaili thanked Prince Khalid for attending the ceremony of inaugurating the National Defense University, saying that "this marks a new phase and a bright start for the professional military education in the Kingdom". Prince Khalid bin Salman watched a visual presentation on the history of the Command and Staff College, its achievements since its founding, its current academic activities, and the initiatives to transform it into the National Defense University to achieve the development goals of the Ministry of Defense. After that, the Minister of Defense inaugurated the National Defense University. He then announced the results of the 15th batch of graduates from the Master's Program in Strategic Studies, and the 50th batch of Master's Program in Military Sciences at the Command and Staff College of the Armed Forces. Prince Khalid honored the outstanding graduates. The graduates included a number of students from various ministries and state institutions, in addition to 47 students from friendly countries.
